REDLANDS >> Visitors driving or walking down Orange Street in downtown Redlands may have noticed the city’s latest effort to boost the historic core’s curb appeal.

The city recently transformed the planters at the parking lot entrance between Citrone Restaurant and Bar and the former Joe Greensleeves into patios, as a way to encourage more outdoor dining and attract more visitors to downtown.

“The planters next to Citrone and Joe Greensleeves were part of the city manager’s vision to have a corridor where people driving or walking by can see the dining opportunities that are along Orange Street and obviously be compelled to park and eat there,” said Chris Boatman, director of the city’s Quality of Life Department.

The city hired a contractor to lay the pavers, but city staff completed the remainder of the work to save money.

Tim Sullivan, assistant director of the Quality of Life Department, came up with a prototype for the wrought-iron fencing, then handed it over to city employees.

“They did an awesome job,” he said. “They just ran with it and did way beyond what I had envisioned. We have some talented staff.”

The idea grew out of conversations between City Manager N. Enrique Martinez and the then-owner, said Boatman, who remembers thinking the parking lot was in need of some attention even during his high school days.

“As we dialogued we felt it was the perfect opportunity to create another area where people can congregate and make a noticeable difference,” Boatman said.

The city has plans to continue making improvements to the city-owned parking lot, such as laying pavers, installing shade structures and seating.

This week, crews are working to relocate palm trees to newly constructed bulb-out tree wells on Orange Street, which will not only provide more pedestrian walkway but opportunities for outdoor dining, Boatman said.

“We’re bringing the trees out into Orange Street and it’s going to widen the sidewalk, so you’re going to widen the usable area, we’ll meet ADA requirements and be able to add seating adjacent to those other restaurants on Orange Street,” Boatman said.

Over the past few years, the city has completed numerous projects in downtown. It has installed shade sails, seating, music and Wi-Fi in the Civic Center plaza; rehabilitated the Orange Street Alley; installed bicycle racks; improved landscaping; installed murals at the 10 Freeway underpasses; and began work improving the 10 Freeway on- and off-ramps at Eureka, Orange and Sixth streets.

All together, the projects are meant to create a pedestrian corridor from south of Vine Street north through downtown.

“This is just another part of the city’s larger effort to focus on the downtown, to make it more pedestrian friendly, a place that’s exciting for people to visit and is walkable,” Boatman said. “We’re trying to develop different connection points that bring the larger downtown together.”